Deputies meeting in Strasbourg yesterday (24 September) backed a European Commission directive which aims to simplify patent law for a wide range of electronic goods, ranging from washing machines to mobile phones.

The proposed law, which harmonizes current practice in the Munich-based European Patents Office, will ensure that patents in the field of computer engineering will be issued on the same basis in all member states.

After a stormy debate, members crucially adopted amendments for the proposed legislation to be strictly limited to new inventions only.

UK Socialist deputy Arlene McCarthy, Parliament’s rapporteur on the issue, said she hoped the legislation would prevent a drift towards a US-style of patenting and protect the European industry’s interests in the global marketplace.

Before the vote, Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said: “Opponents of the directive have mounted a very vocal and at times personal campaign based on half truths and misconceptions.

“The fact is that the proposal does not introduce software patents and will not have all the terrible effects that the doommongers would have us believe.

“It is a prudent and cautious measure which will clarify and, if anything, tighten the rules which already exist.”

The vote was welcomed by Dutch Liberal MEP Toine Manders, who said: “The adoption of this directive is essential, as the current patchwork of national legislation only leads to legal uncertainty.

“The alternative is to slip into a US-style situation where the patenting of software as such is commonplace.

“This legislation secures legal guarantees for computer implemented inventions but there must be clear restrictions to its scope.

“Small- and medium-sized enterprises in particular have been concerned that patenting will restrict their ability to write new and better software without infringing the rules.

At the same time, though, SMEs will also benefit from the legal certainty established by this directive.” However, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-leader of the Greens-European Free Alliance group, hit out at the proposed legislation, saying: “If you speak to people working at the cutting-edge of technology and software issues, it is difficult to fathom why the Commission proposed such a piece of legislation in the first place.

“With the exception of monopolistic companies wanting to entrench their grip on the market, nobody working in the field of software development has requested additional legal pressures, nobody has complained about the existing level of protection they have and nobody has welcomed the proposal.”

The United Left group in the Parliament said it was “disappointed” MEPs did not reject the report.

Danish MEP Pernille Frahm said the vote was “bad news for Europe’s software industry, for innovation and for creativity.

“In fact, the only people celebrating will be the patent lawyers and big computer companies”.

To date, the Patents Office has granted 30,000 patents for computer-implemented inventions.